Patrick Allan

There are plenty of services out there that try to line up the best deal on a hotel room for you. Stayful does something different by determining the lowest price you can use to bid on unbooked rooms at independent and boutique hotels.

Stayful uses an algorithm to find the lowest possible price for you. Instead of listing the price and you booking right then and there, you use that price to bid on the unbooked rooms in the independent hotel of your choosing. You can choose to try a bid lower than what is recommended, but the Stayful bid rate is optimized for success. Your bid doesn't guarantee to get you a room either, but co-founder Cheryl Rosner told the Wall Street Journal that hotels usually accept the Stayful bid 60 percent of the time. For them, a filled room is better than an empty room. There's even reviews from Trip Advisor so you know what kind of place you're bidding on.

If your bid isn't accepted, there's a link right next to the bid rate that shows you the best rate available online, just like any other travel site. Might as well try for the bid first, right? Start haggling room rates at the link below.